Russia Takes SOPA-Like Approach In Encouraging ISPs To Spy On Their Users

from the in-russia,-isp-spy-on-you! dept

Something that's proving popular with politicians running out of ideas for tackling unauthorized sharing of copyright materials online is to make ISPs and Web sites responsible for the actions of their users -- even though nobody would think of doing the same for telephone companies. SOPA was one of the best-known examples of this approach, and now it looks like Russia wants to join the club:

The cyber crime department of Russia’s Interior Ministry says it intends to get tough on the country’s ISPs when their customers share copyrighted or otherwise illegal material. Authorities say they are currently carrying out nationwide checks on ISPs' local networks and could bring prosecutions as early as next month.

The proposed legislation is a little unusual in that it seems to concern the exchange of unauthorized copies of copyright material across ISPs' local networks:

These networks, present within the ISPs’ own infrastructure, provide users’ access to a wealth of legal content and services such as Internet Relay Chat, but inevitably unauthorized content is available too.

As would have happened with SOPA, the inevitable consequence of passing this kind of law will be round-the-clock surveillance of Internet users by their ISPs -- not because the law requires it, but because the ISPs would be crazy not to given the financial risks they would run otherwise. The other knock-on effect, of course, is that people will just start swapping 2Tbyte portable hard discs full of unauthorized material by hand, bypassing the networks completely.

This is born of Russia's joining the WTO this summer. They're shit on even the most base level of IP protection and I guess see this as the fastest way to clean it up. WTO membership requires a pretty high degree of IP protection. They're interests lie in making the current import and export tariffs disappear and have no tradition of of "free speech". Wouldn't be surprised to see the gulags filling up with infringers real soon.

1 to make up absurd loss charts.
1 to spend millions on pointless tactics to prevent future burnouts.
1 to suck someone in power off to get anti terrorist squad support.
1 to hire outside companies to flood the market with fake light bulbs.
1 to shut down all alternative bulb manufactures.
1 to be their public speaker to spread news about how bad burnouts are and how every single one cost them a good 60 million per pop.
1 to sacrifice a baby to Satan.
93 to sue for the burnout in the first place.
200 to push all the naysayers off a cliff.
1 to sue me for making a 300 joke without authorization.

It's well known that Russia goes hard to protect their OWN intellectual properties.
Since 2010, Putin says they were goin to strengthen their effort to combat the Russian IP theft. If i remember right he even talk about a 3 strike law.

But when it comes to share foreigners materials, they just dont give a fuck. They actually get a lot of money with it, just like China is doing.

Where's Neil?

Come on They only said they're going to check ISP's local networks. Nobody ever said anything about filtering, blocking (local or nation-wide), or anything that remotely resembles SOPA. ISPs will have to get rid of their local FTP servers (which ARE full of pirated material, trust me - it's a way to attract customers), yes, but nobody forces them to watch their users' actions outside the local network. At least for now...

The other knock-on effect, of course, is that people will just start swapping 2Tbyte portable hard discs full of unauthorized material by hand, bypassing the networks completely.

"Start"? "Start"?! Heh.

We're also developing better file sharing, better encryption, and better untrackable methods -- all of which will piss the MAFIAA and its shills and fanboys off no doubt, but that's a good thing: what's bad for the movie studios and the recording industry is good for the planet.

"Something that's proving popular with politicians running out of ideas for tackling unauthorized sharing of copyright materials online is to make ISPs and Web sites responsible for the actions of their users -- even though nobody would think of doing the same for telephone companies."

Actually that's a great idea. Lets start holding politicians responsible for crimes their constituents are committing in their districts! And I don't just mean blame them for crime going up under their watch, I mean lets punish them and financially and even criminally for all the law breaking they're allowing in their district, see how they like that kind of liability for someone else's actions that you have no control over.